Oakville native and IndyCar driver James Hinchcliffe has created his own village and you don’t even need a map to get there.

Want to navigate Brian Wilson's beard? You can, on the Giants pitcher's website.

By:Cynthia VuketsStaff Reporter, Published on Thu May 26 2011

Oakville native and race car driver James Hinchcliffe is the mayor of his very own village — Hinchtown.

The burg exists only in cyberspace and is home to a newsstand, post office and cinema.

Hinchcliffe, who is headed to the Indianapolis 500 this weekend, declares on the website that he likes “long walks on the beach, flannel shirts, maple syrup and dogsled racing. I am also a competitive lumber jack in my spare time.”

His website, “Welcome to Hinchtown,” boasts a 1950s style lit-up sign hovering over the Toronto skyline on the home page. The site is fun and cheeky, but if you want to find out more about Hinchcliffe and his driving career, it’ll take a bit of navigation. It is great though if you want to catch a video of him test-driving his sister’s dog-washing machine. (Don’t ask.)

The San Francisco Giants pitcher is best known for his bushy, synthetic-seeming beard. This MLB-sponsored site lets you navigate the facial fuzz with the help of a “beard Sherpa.” A few of the things you might find: ninjas enjoying a campfire, a yeti and a hopelessly lost Giants fan. Wilson’s whiskers are really tapping into the social media trend. The beard has its own Facebook page and Twitter feed, @BeardOfBrian, which comes out with gems like: “I got a little trim. Anyone notice?”

The 7-foot German navigates visitors through his website himself, creepily blinking while doing so. The Dallas Mavericks’ forward also spins a basketball and palms through various pages, and yet stays anchored at the bottom of the screen. The site includes a “41-world” fan section that allows followers to create their own basketball player and join a team. Bonus: a photo of a 13-year-old Nowitzki in a Nike warm-up suit.

The site is called “Lover. Hater” and it opens with a close-up shot of Avery with no buttons, ads or words obscuring any part of his face. The site is a random collection of shout-outs, musings, video links and photos. The New York Ranger has tips for those who want to look and dress like him but can’t afford to, which he realizes but pretends not to.

Here’s another example of a rich and gorgeous athlete who is unafraid to leverage her popularity to sell stuff (see Sean Avery). Sharapova’s site is a collection of photos, videos, blogs and the “Shop Maria” store where you can purchase shoes from the Maria Sharapova collection by Cole Haan or a tennis dress from her Nike collection. Bonus: her blog post thanking Tiffany & Co. for her specially-designed French Open earrings; it just isn’t a tennis tournament without dangly diamonds.

Go for the full screen version. It feels like you’re inside a video game — a video game that features the utter coolness that is Tom Brady. It comes with surround sound of a loudly cheering crowd. The home page photo is a nice shot of him looking like he’s about to kiss his own bicep. Unfortunately, not as funny as this site — the top 15 most embarrassing pictures of Brady.

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